Working People Need Protections for U.S. Call Center Jobs and a "Better Deal"

Democrats' plan for a better deal on trade and jobs outlines real policies to help working families fight back against corporations that want to shift more jobs overseas and cut wages and benefits for working Americans.

Lawmakers are recognizing the impact of the tens of thousands of U.S. customer service jobs that have disappeared over past years, as corporations ship good call center jobs to Mexico, India, the Philippines and other countries.

CWA has been pressing Congress to stop this flood of jobs overseas. Corporations are boosting their profits and enriching their investors at the expense of working Americans, and communities are devastated when these good service jobs disappear. And as more jobs are sent offshore, more pressure is brought to bear on U.S. workers to accept lower wages and benefits as the price for keeping any job at all.

The Democratic "Better Deal" plan includes crucial legislation introduced by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) that would help restrict call center offshoring and reverse the loss of thousands of good customer service jobs in the U.S. It also would provide important consumer safeguards.

Overall, the "Better Deal" plan will give working people a long overdue voice in what happens to their jobs and their communities. It ends the tax incentives and other rewards that corporations now get for sending jobs overseas; encourages companies to bring jobs back to the U.S. with financial incentives; fully restores "Buy America" requirements for all taxpayer-funded projects, and makes improving U.S. wages and good jobs a key objective of our trade policy.

The "Better Deal" plan would require companies that handle sensitive U.S. consumer data abroad, including call centers, to disclose to customers in what country they are physically located and the level of data protection in that country. 

U.S. trade deals should benefit working families, consumers and communities, not just investors and big corporations. The "Better Deal" plan provides real solutions to do just that.